


Ace-High

by DinobotGlitch



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 03:19:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11500698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DinobotGlitch/pseuds/DinobotGlitch
Summary: Knock Out is all about having fun and also showing his partner his soft side once in a while.





	Ace-High

**Author's Note:**

  * For [birbteef](https://archiveofourown.org/users/birbteef/gifts).



> Thank you for the title, Meri. I'm so useless at them like 95% of the time, my stories honestly only get posted because of you. XD
> 
> Thank you for doing this exchange with me, Spooky! I had a lot of fun writing this and I really wish I had time to write more. Maybe after this hectic month is over? Breakdown has to return the favor, after all! ;)

It wasn’t the first time Knock Out had cornered Breakdown in the middle of a task to talk him into some harebrained scheme or another. Fun and cheap thrills were practically the doctor’s M.O., after all, so Breakdown fully expected him to ask, “Wanna go for a ride?” instead of, “Have you finished filing that fluid work yet?” at the end of yet another long day on _The Nemesis_. It was, however, the first time since reconnoitering with the Decepticon flagship that the crimson mech had chosen to suggest that they sneak off to have some fun, and Breakdown made a point of mentioning that.

“Don’t you think we should maybe just stick around here for a while?” he had asked in a misguided effort to remind the mech of their duties. Neither of them _liked_ said duties, but one of them needed to be the sensible one, here!

“What for? So Starscream can ruin my finish again?” Knock Out had replied scathingly and without delay. “I am certain that there’s far more valuable uses for my time than working for that wretch.”

Breakdown had had no argument for that, so he had simply sighed and helped his partner pack energon, wax, and other assorted personal care items into a small crate. It was only a weekend trip so they wouldn’t need much, he reasoned with himself. High Command probably wouldn’t even notice their absence unless Starscream pissed off Megatron and got himself smacked around, but the chances of that happening again so soon were pretty slim. Logically, now was the _best_ time to go for a little roadtrip.

He had almost convinced himself of that by the time Knock Out had finished scribbling a note explaining that they were going for a supply run. 

“Well, that’s that taken care of,” Knock Out huffed after studying his handiwork. Breakdown peeked over his shoulder to read the list of supplies they were allegedly fetching, and couldn’t help but snort.

“Anyone with access to the database and a few minutes of free time will see just how ridiculous and fake this list is,” he told the smaller mech.

Knock Out tossed the datapad onto the counter dismissively and replied, “Maybe so, but they’ll have to find us before they can complain about it. Now put that stuff in your subspace and c’mon.”

They left the ship without any sort of fanfare and were on the road to gods-knew-where within only a few minutes. Knock Out, as per usual, took point and Breakdown followed close behind, tailing him dutifully well after sunset and into the night. They drove for so long that red taillights on an equally red chassis completely filled his vision entirely, and the sound of Knock Out’s voice - talking, humming, singing, laughing - became the only sound he knew. It was like coming home after so long in the medbay with nothing but broken eradicons to fix to pass the time.

Then those tail lights flashed once, twice, and turned a solid cherry red instead of the familiar burgundy color as Knock Out slowed. 

“Breakdown? We’re here.”

It took a minute to shake off the haze and readjust his attention to the road around them. It had turned from abandoned highway to equally disused back roads at some point, and derelict buildings were cropping up around them on all sides as they slowed to a crawl and then finally stopped and transformed.

Breakdown’s first observation was that he towered over most of the buildings, and could see almost the entire ghost town from where he stood. That part of being on this planet had never stopped being strange, though he had at least adjusted to it enough to not stand there gaping like a fool.

His next observation was that while some of it was in absolute ruins, there were a few things, such as a building that appeared to be made exclusively of small glass bottles and some type of concrete adhesive, that were still intact. There was no human or animal life that he could detect, which made this place all the more disconcerting. All in all though, it was a strange (but not the strangest) location for a date, and as he turned to look askance at Knock Out, he found that the speedster had already disappeared to only the gods knew where.

“Knock Out?”

“Down here!”

The somewhat muffled reply came from further down the street, and after a second, Knock Out peeked around the gutted carcass of another building to wave at him. He approached warily, and took in the scene that he found himself in with something between confusion and awe when he rounded the corner. It was like walking into a different dimension. The buildings - or the fronts of them, at least, since he couldn’t attest to what the insides or backs looked like - were in pristine condition. Solid wood, fresh paint, streets swept clear of all but the most tastefully arranged of tumbleweeds.

Right smack in the middle of it all, two Cybertronian sized chairs and a table sat with only the rising sun to illuminate them.

“Knock Out?” he asked again, this time seeking clarification. Just what _was_ this?

“Pretty neat, right?” Knock Out gestured expansively. “Apparently, fleshies restored this sector of town so that they could use it as a backdrop in their movies. It’s supposed to be historically accurate, though I doubt the credibility of some of these paint pigments. A society so backwards couldn’t possibly have made such a rich blue as some of those banisters have in the time period this dates from.”

… Primus. Breakdown couldn’t help but chuckle for a moment, ignoring the affronted look Knock Out gave him for it as he just let it out. His partner really was something else…

“You’re so… gods, you’re so cute, Knock Out. How did you even find this place?”

“The Eradicons found it while they were on patrol and mentioned it to me because they know you like seeing new stuff,” Knock Out replied proudly.

“And… and the table?” he asked, nodding toward what Knock Out had been setting out a ridiculously ornate looking meal of energon and pilfered goodies on.

“I had them bring it, of course. Only the finest for the mech who I’ve deemed worthy of my most important asset: me.”

“What a charmer you are.” Breakdown laughed as he studied it all again. “The way you were talking, I thought we were going to a race track or something.”

Knock Out’s smile betrayed him even as he snorted inelegantly. “It can’t always be about me, you silly mech. I wanted to do something nice for you!”

It was nice, the burly mech had to admit. He wasn’t Earth’s biggest fan by any stretch, but some of their aesthetics, particularly the time period aesthetics of Western architecture, certainly held merit to the simple side of him. As far as that went, the look of tiny lean-to towns that had popped up during the Gold Rush were more rustic than sophisticated, but they still held an undeniable charm. He thought they were kind of like him. Simple, functional, and often left behind for bigger and better things.

But Knock Out remembered him. Knock Out also took time to bring him to a place where he could relate, even on such a basic level as that, and then remind him that he wasn’t like that at all.

“… You are disgustingly romantic, I hope you know that,” he said to Knock Out, who somehow managed to look even _more_ pleased.

“I know. And you love it.”

Breakdown smiled as he swept the smaller mech up, heedless of his startled ‘eep!’, to lean him over his bumper and kiss him softly before correcting him.

“I love _you_.”

He only grinned wider when Knock Out pushed at his face and grumbled, “Dork. I love you, too, but you’re gonna scratch my finish if you keep acting like some kind of- of- a _troglodyte_ , so put me down.”

“As if I wouldn’t buff the scratches out for you,” Breakdown teased even as he very carefully put Knock Out back on his pedes, to which the smaller mech made an exaggerated face of malcontent before huffing at him and waving dismissively.

“Yeah, yeah. Now how about we have this meal before someone shows up to ruin it?”

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, feel free to hit me up on my tumblr (dinobotglitch) if you wanna know more about my works and see what's in store for the future! I've got a bit of an event going on over there right now that could earn you a ficlet of your choosing if you help me out, so make sure to peep it. :D


End file.
